Corn-shelling machine.



No. 644,458. Patented Feb. 27, I900. c. D. PBINDLE. comm SH'ELLING momma.

(Application filed July 26, 1899.)

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No. 644,458. Patented Feb. 27, I900. C. D. PRINDLE.

CORN SHELLING MACHINE.

(Applicatign filed July 26, 1899.)

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' C. D. PRINDLE.

CORN SHELLING MACHINE.

(Application filed July 26, 1899.

Patented Feb. 27, I900.-

airmen STATES CHARLIE D. PRINDLE, OF NEVVKIRK, OKLAHOMA TERRITORY.

.CI'ORN-SHELLING' MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 644,458, dated February 2'7, 1900. Application filed July 26,1899. serialNo. 725,154. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern-.- I

Be it known that I, CHARLIE D. PRINDLE, of

Newkirk, in the county of Kay and Territory of Oklahoma, have invented a new and Improved Corn-Shelling Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates tocorn-shellers of a The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as is hereinafter described, and indicated in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side, elevation of the cornsheller mounted for transportation, some details being partially removed at the ends of the machine. Fig. 2 is a sectional side View substantially on the line .2 2 in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a plan. view of the machine. Fig l is an enlarged transverse sectional view substantially on the lined 4 in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view substantially on the line 5 5 in Fig. 2.

A rectangular frame 6 is provided with two axles 7, mounted on the four wheels 8 for convenient transportation of the machine complete by a team hitched to the draft-pole 9, shackled upon the front end of the frame in an ordinary way. At or near one upper cor: nor of the frame 6 the sheller 10 is located.

As shown in Fig. 2, the concaves 11 ll of the sheller are arranged one above the other, one concave 11 being uppermost, and said concaves are held in place with their ends in close contact with the end walls 10 of the sheller by two strap-hinges a, secured upon the exterior of each concave. The two pairs of straphinges a are respectively pivoted by like ends upon the end walls 10 of the shelling device and at their other extremities are detachably secured upon projections from the frame 6 by bolt ends of the hinge-straps which pass through said projections and have nuts screwed upon their ends, as shown in Fig. 2 at l).

The concaves 11 11 are so relatively positioned that the adjacent openings therein will be exposed considerably at opposite sides of the same, thus affording a feeding-throat c at the front side of the shelling device and a discharge-passage d at the rear side thereof, the

feeding-throat opening directly into the lowconcaves they are within.

At the front end of the frame 6 an endless feeding-apron 13 is supported thereon by a journaled engagement of the ends of one of the carrying-rollers of the apron with bracketsf on the frame, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The endless apron 13 comprises a flexible band mounted upon two rollers g, the supporting-shaft g of said rollers being carried by arms f, extending from the side pieces 13, which guard the edges of the apron and prevent lateral escape of material fed upon the apron. Two bracket-armsf, extending from the rear side of frame 6, carry the journaled ends of the upper shaft 9. Theapron device complete being rockable is adapted for inclination a proper degree downwardly and rearwardly, and is thus supported by two props 14, which have their ends respectively engaged with clip-bands on the sides of the guard-boards 13 and with a lower cross-piece of the frame 6, as indicated in Fig. 2, the clipbands being shown in Fig. 3.

The apron 13 has a series of spaced cleats g secured thereon throughout its area, and the lower end of said apron enters the hopperboX 15, that will hold ears of corn to be fed upon the apron and conveyed by it into the throat 0.

One free edge of the lower concave 11 extends up, so as to nearly have contact with the lower side of the upper cylinder 12, as shown in Fig. 2, and the lower edge of the upper concave 11 in a similar manner approaches the upper surface of the lower cylinder 12. This relative disposition of the concaves 11 11 and the cylinders 12 12 affords a substantially-Sshaped passage h between the concaves and the cylinders, which passage extends sufficiently over the latter to cover two-thirds of the surface of each cylinder, as shown in Fig. 2. The end walls 10 are connected by two cross-bolts h 7L2, which are located, respectively, near the rear and front edges of said walls between the cylinders 12 12, and a flap-plate 'i is supported at one edge upon the rear cross-bolt 7L2, so as to rest its free edge upon the angularly-bent upper edge of a vertical wall 2 transverselysupported on the frame (3 at the rear side of the lower concave 11.

A transversely-slatted cob-separator 16 is hung by rods loosely from the top side beams of the frame 6, so as to be adjusted to receive a limited longitudinal reciprocation efiected by means of two eccentrics 17, rotatably actuated by the shaft 17, transversely supported upon the rear uprights of the frame 6, the rods 70, that extend forwardly from the straps which loosely engage the eccentrics, having their front ends affixed upon the lower side of the cob-separator. A hopper 18 is located below the separator 16, and its inclined front and rear sides are converged to provide a semicylindrical receptacle. at the lower end of said hopper, wherein a transversely-supported rotatable conveyer-screw 19 is located.

A fan-case 20 is positioned on the frame 6 and across the same, having open communication with the adjacent side of the hopper 18, that is transversely slotted to permit such an intersection of the fan-case therewith. A winged fan-shaft 20 is rotatably held concentric within the cylindrical case 20, so that the fan-blades thereon may by revolution of the shaft be adapted to force a current of air across the hopper 18 in contact with the corn that falls through the slatted separator 16 and remove dust and fine refuse therefrom.

The upper cylinder-shaft 0 projects outside of the bearings which carry it on the frame 6, and on the projecting ends of said shaft the sprocket-gears e are secured. The ends of the shaft 6 which support the lower cylinder 11 also extend beyond the frame 6, at each side thereof, and upon these projections of the. shaft two pulleys c e are mounted and secured. Upon an outer end of the conveyerscrew 19 a sprocket-gear 19 is affixed, and at the opposite end. said screw is extended into the lower end of the elevator-case 21, which is vertically erected at the side of the frame 6 containing the usual endless band 21, having spaced buckets on it and supported by pulleys 21 at the ends, one being shown in Fig. 1. The conveyer-screw and elevator are driven from the screw 19 by means of a sprocket-chain 19, which engages the sprocket-gear 19 and also the sprocketgear 17 which is affixed upon an extended end of the shaft 17, and upon the opposite extended end of said shaft another sprocketgear 17 is secured, which is driven by means which will be hereinafter described.

A cob-conveyer device is provided for removal of corncobs from the rear end of the separator16, and comprises the following details: A short shaft 22 is vertically supported to rock in the bracket-box 22,-which is fixed upon the rear side of the frame 6, near the sill-timbers of the same, and upon the enlarged upper end of said shaft, which is seated upon the bracket-box mentioned, a bevelgear 23 is secured, which is furnished with teeth on the upper and lower sides thereof. A short journal-shaft 24 is rotatably supported upon the frame 6, at one side of the same, by a suitable bearing-box 2%, (shown in Fig. 3,) and at the outer end of said shaft a sprocket-gear 24 is secured. Upon the inner end of the shaft 24 a bevel-gear 25 is aifixed, which has meshed engagement with the lowermost teeth of the double-toothed bevel-gear 23. A T-shaped journal-box 26 is swivelmounted upon the upper end of the vertical shaft 22, and in the horizontal bore of the upper part of said box a short shaft nis rotatably held, having a bevel-gear 27 secured upon an end portion which projects to engage with bracket-arm m, two of said arms being provided for support of the extremities of the shaft 71, as will presently be explained.

The conveyer proper consists of two side pieces 28, held spaced apart by the bottom piece 0 and having two bands 28, mounted at each doubled end upon rollers. The rollers 12, which carry the inner ends of the bands 28, are loosely secured upon portions of the shaft a that are exterior of the box 26, as

shown in Fig. 5, and the rollers, which are supports for the outer bights of the bands 28, receive support from a cross-shaft p, journaled at its ends in bracket-arms 19, secured upon the side pieces 28, as shown in Fig. 3. Transverse cleats r in spaced order are secured upon the bands 28, and these cleats catch upon the corncobs as the latter are expelled from the separator 16, and by the travel of the upper ply of the conveyer-bands 28 in direction of the arrow at in Fig. 2 the corncobs are transferred to the outer end of the conveyer and thence discharged either into a wagon-body or another receptacle for removal.

Upon the same side of the machine that the sprocket-gear e is located a larger sprocketgear g is secured upon the projected end of the shaft g that is at the upper end of the corn-conveyer device 13,and a sprocket-chain g is mounted upon the gears e 9* for rotation of the latter at a slower speed than the upper cylinder 12" is driven, and thus moving the upper ply of the conveyer-apron 13 toward the feeding-throat c of the shelling device.

The pulley c at one end of the shaft 8, which drives the lower cylinder 12,is designed to be driven by a power-actuated belt, (not-shown,) and the pulley 6 which is on the opposite end of said driving-shaft, is connected by the belt 20 with a pulley 20*,fixed upon the outer end of the shaft 20 --that is, the spindle of the fan before described-so that rapid rotary motion will be transmitted from the shaft 6 to the fan-shaft when the machine is in service.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, an elongated endless sprocket-chain 29 is provided to transmit motion from the upper cylinder 12 to the shaft 24:, which actuates the cob-conveyer device. To this end the forward doubled end of the endless sprocket-chain 29 is passed over the sprocket-gear 6 that is on the end of the shaft e, and above the pulley e Thence the sprocket-chain 29 is rearwardly extended and has its rear doubled end engaged with the periphery of the sprocket-gear 24", that is on the extended end of the shaft 24. The lower run of the sprocket-chain 29 engages the upper peripheral gear 17 intermediately of the doubled ends of said chain, and the upper run thereof rests upon the idler-pulley 30, carried by the bracket-arm 31, adj ustably secured on an upright side member of the frame 6,said pulleyand itssupporting-bracket affording means to stretch the chain 29 taut.

It will be seen that by provision of means for swiveling the device along with the gearing connected with the cob-elevator it may be swung laterally toward either side of the frame 6 and be actuated by the sprocketchain 29, so as to carry away the corncobs and deposit them at a desired point. There may be props 32 employed to support the cobelevator at a desired inclination, said props having their upper ends engaged with the bracket-loops s, that are fixed oppositely uponthe side pieces 28 of the cob-conveyer and their lower ends seated upon the ground, thus adapting the props to carry the conveyer device and permit it to be moved sidewise as occasion may require.

In operation the cylinders 12 12 are rotated in opposite directions, as indicated by the curved arrows in Fig. 2, and it will be seen that the direction indicated for the rotatable movement of the lower cylinder 12 will adapt said cylinder to draw in the cornears fed by the endless apron 13 and carry them around between the shelling-teeth on said cylinder and on the inner surface of the concave 11. After the ears have reached the point indicated by the curved arrow at the upper side of the cylinder 12 they are caught by the teeth on the upper cylinder 12 and forced around between said cylinder and the teeth on the upper concave 11, and finally the shelled corn and cobs pass out of the discharge-passage d upon the flap-plate t' and thence upon the slatted separator 16.

The long S-shaped channel providedbetween the cylinders 12 12 and concaves 11 11 serves to insure a perfect removal of all corn on the corn-ears fed into the machine and also permits the corn-shelling device to receive a high rate of speed while in operation, the manner of feeding the corn-ears sidewise into the throat c from the slatted apron l3 preventing them from being crushed by the shelling operation. a

The portability of the entire apparatus attained by placing it complete upon a wheeled frame is of great advantage and enables the owner of the same to shell the corn, clean it, and put the cleaned grain in bags out in the field d u ring fa vorable weather, and thus avoid a great deal of handling of the fodder and husked corn.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a corn-shelling machine, the combination with a support and a feeding device on said support, of two shelling-cylinders mounted to rotate in opposite directions on said support, one directly above the other, a concave extending from the feeding device rearwardly underneath and around the lower cylinder and terminating with its upper edge close to the upper cylinder, and an upper concave having its forward edge extending within the mouth of the lower concave close to the lower cylinder, said upper concave extending from such edge up around the upper cylinder and terminating rearwardly of the upper edge of the lower concave, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a corn-shelling machine, a frame or support, a feeding device thereon, two shelling-cylinders mounted to rotate in opposite directions on said support one directly above the other, a concave extending from the feeding device rearwardly underneath and around the lower cylinder and terminating with its upper edge close to the upper cylinder, an upper concave having its forward edge extending within the mouth of the lower concave close to the lower cylinder, said upper concave extending from such edge up around the upper cylinder and terminating rearwardly of the upper edge of the lower concave, a flap plate located between the rear edges of the two concaves, a vertical wall in the framehavingarearwardly-bent upper end supporting the free end of said flap-plate, a cob-separator depending loosely in the frame and having its forward end extending underneath the rearwardly-bent upper end of said wall, and means for reciprocating said separator, as set forth.

CHARLIE D. PRINDLE.

Witnesses:

O. M. SHAVER, D. EDGAR CALKINS. 

